In the old days, Dusk and I would just start a story.People would join in, roll with it, or get rolled over.

These 'one-shots' are very short by nature, perfect for communities that aren't strong in the RP department.So, we have decided to start the machine once again and dish out some one-shots.No bios, not much reading to do, and certainly available to any that want to join.The guiding rule here is, play with smarts, with savvy, with patience, and as realistic as possible.Guns shoot, people die, things explode, and some monsters take more than a bullet to make them sit down.

Any research you pour in to your character is on your time.I will provide a small overview and a Faction list with very brief statement lines.Join us....------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The year is 2278.The U.S. has been decimated by nuclear war and the aftermath of fallout. Strained knots of humanity have survived by doing what they had to. Some survive in underground vaults, others thrive in the irradiated wasteland with nothing but guts and smarts to see them through each day. Danger is a constant companion and rad-poisoning an eventuality. The lands once known as D.C. are now called 'The Capital Wasteland' and that title is very fitting. As a survivor after the destruction, you will step out from your home and into the pages of legend.

Factions - - -

The Brotherhood of Steel - Power armor wearing goody goods that try their best to both collect knowledge of the past and keep the stragglers of humanity kept alive.

The Outcasts - Power armor wearing hard cases that collect advanced tech from the smoldering embers of bombed out history. Could care less about anyone else. Oh wait, they do.

The Enclave - The last vestiges of the U.S. Government. Advanced Power armor combatants that want to save the world. Or do they?

The Vault Dwellers - Live out a life of normal everyday normality. Eat, sleep, get an education, the works. Live like a rat in a maze and be provided for, just dreamy right?

- - -

Talon Company - The truly evil, and very well supplied, mercenary group that will take any job as long as the price is right. Combat armor and advanced weaponry are a must.

The Regulators - A collection of justice upholders that seek to right the wrong in this mad mad world. Long coats and good weapons make a marshal.

The Hunters - Human flesh farmers that get it where they can. Leather armor and hunting rifles are the standard.

The Slavers - Based out of Paradise Falls, the slavers are the old fashioned 'have slave collar will raid' kinda group that do their best to take in and trade out the broken, the beaten, and the damned. Wear what they can get and use what they can find.

The Raiders - Kill, torture, murder, wear armor that does anything but protect and try to have the craziest haircut while you're at it. Go stab happy, sledgehappy, take a break, maybe shoot in a random direction once or twice. Oh and make sure your hideout is infested with something likely to kill you.

The Rangers - mapping out the wasteland, one location at a time. Light armor and long range weapons make for the best infiltration gear.

The Treeminders - Worship a god encased in bark.Do your best to thrive with limited weapons and tree armor.

The Family - Blood drinkers with access to good weapons and a penchant for gang tactics.

Non-Human

The Super Mutants - Big, strong, dumb. Get older, get stronger, get dumber. Unless of course it pertains to combat....then you're ok at the whole thinking part. Use a gun or a piece of metal and crush whoever you're fighting.

The Ghouls - Once human, now resembling something out of a Romero movie. Some retain the ability to talk and think and act human. Others are feral, glowing with radiation, and ill-tempered.

Cruor Vult

Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness.

Hector Sejanus was a very patient man.For the past thirty minutes his command of Talon Mercenaries had been trying to unlock the massive 30 ton door that barred their way. The first, and to be honest only, bump in the operation was at the beginning. He had no real time-table to work on, but always prided in doing things as succinctly as possible. Twelve men and women waited behind him in the cavern, dressed as usual in the midnight colors of the companies combat armor. Some wore the matching helmet, others disdained the head gear in favor of greater perception. All had the frost white symbol of the talon etched or painted on their personalized gear.

Hector took another drag on the crinkled cig in his hands and glanced over toward the massive steel door.Doubting anything less than a few warheads were going to move it, Hector had brought the appropriate devices for such an explosion, but wanted to remain as low-key as possible before the vault cracked. Three other members of his team were squatting at the vault controls, trying to rig the outside gear, much battered by time and the prevailing environs, into some sensible working order. At least enough to open the damn door.

Hector sighed out a last puff of smoke and then dropped the butt, smashing it into the cave floor.He set about adjusting the weight his Chinese Assault rifle hung on his shoulder and making sure his armor straps were clear and non-obstructing for any of his ammo pouches or other various gear. That set, he unslung his sidearm, a choice .44 magnum and sidled the rig into a nice whirr, listening for any tell-tale clicks. Satisfied, for about the ninth time, he stepped up behind his men and queried in a level tone.

"Status?"

Cruor Vult

Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness.

His commander's voice rang in his ears, a testament to how miserably the door was moving. The other two around him were fairly incompetent and only sat there posing implausible options as to how to get the blasted door to swing open. The other choice in the matter was to simply obliterate the door, but he didn't like that option. This place could always be useful in the future, after all, but not so much so if the door were hanging off its hinges.

Vincent gripped his chin and thought for a moment, slowly caressing the stubble across his face. If he wired the capacitor bank to his gauntlet, he might be able to reset the system by causing a power surge. The power-suit left gauntlet wasn't quite as useful as it would be if he were actually trained to use it, but nonetheless its on-board computational power made it vastly useful as a hacking and data storage tool. It was strapped to his arm with leather buckles and latches and was powered by a set of 128V rechargeable lithium ion batteries he kept mounted to his left shoulder. It held something like 6 terrabytes of data, yet Vincent could barely fill up a fraction of that. Technology these days, he was still trying to understand all of the intricacies in just that one piece of power armor...

He removed the power plugs that ran along his arm from the gauntlet and for a moment it went to reserve power. He took out of a set of secondary plugs he kept in a pocket on his left breast and hooked up the system to the capacitor bank of the system in parallel. The gauntlet boomed to life, seeming to become more flexible and more resilient just by receiving more power. The screen flashed online on the door.

"We may yet have it, commander."He pushed a few buttons on the console and it went black, with all power being diverted to his gauntlet. Punching a few more keys on his gauntlet's unveiled panel, the screen suddenly dulled and the gauntlet returned to normal -- the control panel for the door sparked and the door's locking mechanism began undoing itself. He closed the door's control panel and noted that it would probably recover its system state in less than 2 minutes and lock itself back up.

"Commander, we will have a 90 second interval once the door opens to get the entire team inside. It will lock itself afterwards and we will have to reprogram it once inside to get out."He rubbed his left wrist and replaced his half-helmet. It only covered one side of his head and he only wore it for the sole purpose to provide a mount for his scope. As opposed to having to learn to deal with different scopes on each weapon he carried, he built himself a scope that would function for any weapon he carried.

He stood up from the kneeling position and faced his commander. He nodded and awaited acknowledgment of his warning.

"I'll come to Florida one day and make you look like a damn princess." ~Hep

Hector nodded and holstered his sidearm.Turning back to the others he barked out his orders.

"Ninety seconds people! In line and prepare for light resistance at the door! Weapons hot, you know the drill."The fifteen people around him prepared accordingly and formed two lines ready to enter the vault as soon as the door rolled back. Hector stood off to one side, seeing that everyone would go in before he did. It was bad enough watching out for other things in the wasteland, adding in a knife in the back during a sortie was just operational hazard.

"With any luck Vince, there should be an operational control panel inside the Vault to let us go as we please."

A giant grinding of gears and the sound of a pneumatic pressure piston sliding against groaning metal was heard beyond the door, cutting off any further orders. Dust and sand cracked off and the door began to slide back on the groves. The hiss as untainted air escaped, the smell of fresh oil and the sight of undimmed light. The door to Vault 113 rolled back and Hector shouted:

"MOVE! MOVE!"The Mercenaries surged forward, filling into the vault in good order and putting a handful of rounds into the two security detail men that had stumbled into the room, shock and confusion on their faces. Red spinning lights and warning klaxons sounded for all to hear. Hector crossed the threshold and unslung his assault rifle, flicking the safety off and setting for a three-round burst. "Secure the forward rooms and clear out any resistance. Chillz and Moar..." He pointed at two under his command. "...sit tight. I want this room in our control at all times, catch anyone trying to slip through." They grunted but took up positions in the small side room overlooking the Vault entrance."The rest of you SOUND OFF! DETAIL!"

"Common rooms!" came four."Medical and Reactor!" Came a chorus of seven."Vince, Red, you're with me." Hector stated."Time to pay a visit to the Overseer."

The door behind them grumbled back into place as the door before them opened and several very nervous security guards held short batons and a laser pistol between them. Perhaps they meant to parley, but the rattle of gunfire that cut through them ended that notion in a heartbeat. Bodies twitched and fell to the deck, blood started to pool."Chillz, Moar, try and find a keycard or something and contact us on the PA.""We don't have control of the system here."Hector let a thin smile play across his features."You will soon enough."

The company moved, sweeping outward in all directions.The Vault had no chance.

Cruor Vult

Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness.

The thump of a corpse hitting the floor reverberated through the room. A man in a long coat walked towards the body, his semi-automatic shotgun pointed at his victim's head. *BOOM* The blood splattered the man's coat and the armor he wore under it. Content that his headless enemy was dead, Marshal Owens lowered his weapon.

The girl huddled in the corner, fearful for her life. Owens did not smile but simply watched her as he picked up a metallic object from the floor. He kicked the corpse out of his way and approached the girl. She pushed herself as far into the wall as she could. Owens held the metal circle out in front of him. "Do you know what this is?"

Her terrified eyes were the only thing that responded. Owens continued, his voice slowly calming as he went. "A slave collar. This son of a biscuit is a Slaver, and you just happened to be his target." The girl hid her face in her arms. For several moments, the two just stood there. Only the girl's muffled sobs broke the silence. Owens simply watched. Justice was pitiless. The Regulators had emphasized that more than enough over the years. Yet Owens was only human.

There was no room for love in a Marshal's world, but this was not love, even if it was just as deadly. This was compassion. After all, if he wanted to obey the letter of the law, Owens would have just joined the Enclave. Owens slipped off his long coat and placed it over the girl's shoulder's before lifting her up in his arms. Her brain had shut down from the shock and so she didn't resist.

The commander had issued out the standard orders, adding in some extra spite in his remark towards the Overseer. We secured the forward rooms and moved inward a bit, holding as he halted his march. He ensured that his pre-war Dragunov was properly secured over his shoulder and he removed the combat shotgun from the back of his waist. He probed its drum barrel to test how much ammo was left on it and decided it would suffice for anything they ran into on this sortie.

He raised an arm.The scanner in his headpiece revealed increased IR activity in certain points of the floor of the next room.

"Sir, frag mines have just recently been scattered about the next room."He clicked the safety off on his shotgun and made sure that the presently loaded barrel was of slugs. Satisfied, he awaited his commander's next order.

"I'll come to Florida one day and make you look like a damn princess." ~Hep

Once the door was open, it was all hustle and bustle. Damn kids, always going forward. 90 seconds seemed short, but as he had been holed up behind a wall in the tunnel, Zeke could plainly feel the vibration of the large door as it swung open and could proceed laxly. He calmly grabbed his coat and watched through a small hole to ensure the last of the mercenaries had gone through. Of course, they were through in record speed, giving him plenty of time to push open the block he had cut in the wall and walk slowly and silently in their footsteps. He had been waiting weeks for this operation - he didn't know the exact details but he knew someone was opening the cookie jar.

With his cap, overcoat, glasses, facewrap, long pants and boots, it was nearly impossible to divine anything about him from his appearance. The one unique feature to his apparel was the pair of headphones over his cap. They were connected to a Walkman radio that had been modified to run on those fusion batteries you could find whenever you broke a robot.

What Zeke really wanted was a radio show - the good kind, not this "Galaxy News Network" or "Enclave Radio" garbage. Sadly, all his cassettes were simply music. But that wasn't so bad. Zeke kind of liked to do the voices.

He leveled his hunting rifle as he walked through the threshhold, the weight nice and familiar in his hands. "Folks, this is Zeke in the afternoon, and we have a hell of a show for you tonight..."

Hector nodded as Vince gave the warning and motioned for Red to open the door.With a shush of motion the door lifted up and Hector put three rounds into the figure on the far side. A small yelp as the man fell and two other figures retreated further into the Vault. True enough, three or four mines were placed rather close to the door on each side and in front. Hector tossed his head and, still covering her from the safety of the open door, watched her wriggle that fine body of hers toward the active mines and almost casually deactivate them.

A few moments passed as Red took very careful movements and collected the rest of the mines.Hector swept into the room and chuckled, glancing at the overhead signs.

Overseers Office

"Might as well have shot himself."He motioned to the other two and sidled up to the door. It buzzed at him in an angry tone."Vince, if you would be so kind....Red...when he pops the door we pop the people."Hector took a crouched position to the left side of the hatch and pointed his weapon with anticipation.

- - -

Common Rooms

The Talon Company met no resistance and started executing all humans found.Most in their beds.

Medical Level

The Talon Company met Light resistance, one falling to combat between ambushing Security officers.Operation going as planned.

Reactor Level

The Talon Company is facing heavy Resistance. No casualties...yet.

Vault Door

"HEY! who the Hell are you!?!" Chillz had his gun leveled at the man's head."You have two moments to tell me what the frak you are doing here before I spill your brains all over the damn walls."Moar had her weapon on the ground, both hands caught in the pockets of a downed security man.

Cruor Vult

Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness.

Another door, this one more intricate than the last. This one wouldn't simply budge with a power surge, no, there were reserves in the Overseer's door. Vincent wondered why in the world they wouldn't have backed up the main entrance with a more diverse array of technology, but then again they probably weren't expecting the Talon Company to drop the hammer as they had just done.

"This door may be a few more seconds than the last, sir."

He uncapped the index fingertip of his gauntlet and shorted it to ground right around the door panel's microcontroller bus. The panel on his gauntlet lit up with schematics of the electrical circuits and the programming contents of the microprocessor unit. All systems were EEPROM only, meaning they could only be rewritten with a surge to clear them in the first place -- which this system prevented against. It appeared there was a key code, a key card, and a DNA checker in place to maintain the lock against intruders.

A minute or so passed with him prodding the system for any weaknesses. Eventually, one surfaced, as it always did. He rerouted the microprocessor units to feed into themselves by shorting them across each other. Apparently they were not cleared for surge protection against one another. The electrical engineer that designed this would've been fired from his job for this hole were he not likely dead in some corridor of the facility by now. Slowly, but surely, each individual processor unit popped and the corresponding lock on the door clicked in tandem.

*CLICK*"There are three locks, three clicks, the door will swing open into their side of the room 2 seconds after the last click."*CLICK*He was still wired to the unit in order to ensure the overload completed as was needed. He leaned his back against the wall to the left of the door to be out of harm's way in his vulnerable position. He leaned his shotgun across his lap with one hand at the ready if a makeshift attack were necessary.

A second passed and then --*CLICK*The door began swinging open...

"I'll come to Florida one day and make you look like a damn princess." ~Hep

Hector said nothing, just nodding as Vince relayed what was going to happen.*Click*Psyching...Psyching...*Click*Psyching...Psyching...*Click*The door swung open and a flurry of laser projectiles flew from a ramshackle barricade before him.Most went wide, a few scouring a glance off his combat armor. Rather than hosing the room much like Red was doing with her automatic weapon, Hector took deliberate aim, squeezing off three round bursts in rapid succession, aiming for torsos and exposed faces. The four security guards were put down in a handful of moments.

Red was grinning, having been a former raider she was more than likely getting off by the sheer amount of death dealt.Hector swept with his left arm and she covered him while he went into the room at a crouch. Two more doors and the bodies on the floor were the only sights to see. "Move in." He stated, before glancing at a security came in the corner. He looked at it and made the cutthroat sign before choosing the door on the right. Just as he sidled up to it the door shushed up and Hector was face to face to face with two more security guards. With no room to bring his gun up, Hector smashed the side of the first ones security helm and lunged out with a front kick sending him stumbling back into his colleague. Hector lunged back behind the door frame and shouted:"VINCE SWEEP IT!"

Cruor Vult

Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness.

"You have two moments to tell me what the frak you are doing here before I spill your brains all over the damn walls."

Two things were in these kids's favor. First off, as he had been awakened by the vibration of the Vault Door, he had not yet taken his Superjet. Secondly, the music in his ears was nice, smooth jazz. If it had been music with more of an edge to it, they would have been dead already. But, unlike usual, Zeke's mind was still relatively working.

"Why, looting, of course. It's sure not to see your smiling faces." He only held on to the rifle with one hand, and allowed it to point down instead of at the person in front of him. With this other hand, he removed his sunglasses and facewrap. His skin was mottled, his eyes ravaged by drugs and radiation. A ghoul. "I've been shooting people with this rifle before your dad was born. Tell me where your friends are and I'll loot a different part. His cracked, bloody lips formed a smile. "If you think you're going to keep all of the goods this is going to be an unpleasant day for both of us. And I don't want to ruin such a great start."

"A ghoul eh?" Chillz chuckled and brought his gun up to rest against his shoulder."Well hell, why don't you chill here for a few more minute while we sweep the place."He leaned against the stark metal once more and glanced over at Moar. She shrugged."If anything you won't have to deal with anyone..." She fished out some smokes and lit the end with gusto.She offered, Chillz declined. She offered to the ghoul and spoke;"It'll only be ten to twenty minutes max my friend...and there will be plenty of loot for you to rife through at leisure."

Cruor Vult

Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness.

Red and the commander moved their way into the room. While gunshots rang in his ears, Vince was fast at work trying to unplug himself from the circuitry without accidentally shunting the door's closed. He managed to short the system in its current position and retracted the finger gauntlet extension without accidentally breaking it. He flexed his gauntleted arm to make sure everything was in order. Flapping down the panel on his gauntlet and making sure that his headpiece was properly adjusted, he swung the shotgun into the front and firing position.

Not a second too soon, either --"VINCE SWEEP IT!"

The commander burst forth from the door backwards and slid along the floor out of the way. Vince gripped his shotgun and swung around the corner to a man carrying an assault baton at point blank range. Having an itchy trigger finger isn't always a bad thing --

*FRAK*The guard's upper torso fragmented and smashed into the man behind the once-living, stunning him for the split second necessary for Vince to click the trigger once more.

*FRAK*This man's right arm flew apart and he went into immediate shock. Two more guards in the room finally decided to take notice of him, but not before Red scored head and torso shots on the both of them with her American Assault Rifle. They collapsed into a heap on the floor at the side of the room. Vince scanned quickly and noticed another set of doors swinging open deep across the room. Almost instinctively, he swept his shotgun around to his hip while clicking on the safety and withdrew his side arm --

"RED, FRAG DEEP!"As if on clockwerk, she clicked the button on the top of that frag mine she had disarmed earlier and threw it in the direction Vincent was pointing his 45 --

*Deep breath...*Time seemed to slow as the eyepiece covering his right eye clicked to a lock with the IR pointer at the bottom of his pistol. It gave a low-tone beep, he held his breath, and then he depressed the trigger.

The door swung open, 3 men readied their assaul --**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM**The door exploded off of its hinges, decapitating the man in the back that had just been sprayed with gore from his two recently combusted comrades.

The room appeared quiet for the moment. Letting out a shallow sigh, he reholstered his 45 and unslung the shotgun again, clicking it back into life by flipping off the safety once more."Clear, commander."

"I'll come to Florida one day and make you look like a damn princess." ~Hep

Hector got back on his feet and took a covered position as the explosion rang in his ears.He moved his jaw to help clear the ringing and glanced around the corner to get, besides a nice view of Red, a scene of broken door bits and a whole mess of blood and gore. Hector shook his head, slung his rifle over his shoulder and drew his side piece. That door had been the one to the Overseers office and, nodding to Vince with a bemused work, walked over the smoldering corpses and faced the man cowering behind the large semicircular desk.

"Ah, Mr. Broody...we have never met, but I hear a lot about what it is you used to do for my current employer."Hector leveled his .44 magnum, almost leisurely at a point between the mans legs."Now you wouldn't about to be tripping a silent alarm would you..." Hector tsked. "...I'm afrai--" Hector coughed lightly. "Excuse me the dust..." He cleared his throat and continued. "I'm afraid your detachment might be preoccupied Overseer.

Red had moved up, like a circling hunting cat, with her own weapons slung.She had a small cig in her teeth, a wide grin on her face and her right hand in her right back pocket.The Overseer kept looking between Hector, Vince in the back, and Red who just pulled a tipped over chair to sit right next to him and watch him with her large green eyes.Hector stifled a chuckle with a short cough."You can talk to me or you can talk to her Mr. Broody..."

"I-I..." the man stammered"Yes Overseer?" Hector asked."We don't give in to terrorist dema-"Hector was honestly laughing."Terrorists? TERRORISTS?!? In this day and age?" Hector shook his head and glanced back at Vince.'"The man says Terrorists...." Hector glanced at Red."Well...he doesn't want to take me seriously Red...he might talk to you."

She was still grinning.Right up to the point she lunged out of the chair with a brass knuckle and smashed her fist into the Overseers ribcage.

Hector faked a wince and 'ooed' looking back at Vince again and shaking his head.

Cruor Vult

Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness.

He stood in the back of the room well behind commander and Red. As much as it entertained him to see the man that had just called him a terrorist beaten, he wasn't very interested in such combat styles. He had been trained in the art of reversals back in the day, an art where the enemy hurts themselves while you keep them at arm's reach. Brutality like this wasn't his cup of tea, though he was by no means shocked or appalled by it. He'd been working with this team long enough to be callous to such emotions.

He crossed his arms and grinned when his commander nodded back to him. After a few nods and even more gut shots to the Overseer, he began examining his gauntlet. When he had wired it into the main power systems, it boomed to life with a flexibility and strength he was not used to. He had never had the opportunity to examine an intact set of power armor, but he suspected that there had to be a central power system through it that kept it at full power at all times. Perhaps he would have to upgrade his power cells for this after the job was said and done.

He looked back at the smoldering corpses in the doorway and then again to the Overseer. He wasn't exactly sure what all the job details involved doing with this coward, only the commander was fully aware of such things. He shrugged to himself and kept still, waiting for the commander and Red to be done having their fun.

"I'll come to Florida one day and make you look like a damn princess." ~Hep